I started to feel something I’m betting your familiar with—

That feeling you get when you have tons of helpful experience . . . and want to share your knowledge and insight, but your ideas are scattered across a hundred different conversations, digital notes, physical notebooks, etc., instead of organized somewhere they can actually reach people. 

That feeling changed my life, because . . .

I decided to teach a class. Or, do my best impression of it anyway.

By 2012, I’d made up my mind to package everything I knew into continuing education courses at The University of Texas at Austin.

The first time I stood in front of a roomful of strangers trying to help them build their websites, I was so shaky that my best friend (who was there for moral support) had to step in and co-teach the second half of the class with me, so I wouldn’t be so nervous.

It was an epic save, and gave me the boost I needed.

All those free coffee conversations had officially matured into course materials that allowed me to spread the work further . . . and get paid. [Don’t worry; I got more comfortable with teaching and was eventually able to do so without adult supervision 🤣.]

Then, strangers started emailing me.

In 2013 I published my first print book, The Small Business Manual, out of the materials I’d developed for 4 different in-person classes. The book didn't sell a million copies. No one from the White House called to thank me for my contribution to the country, nay, the world.

But, people I'd never met started emailing me questions—because, unbeknownst to me, the book had been picked up as a required textbook at multiple U.S. colleges. My little independently published book was out there helping people I'd never get the chance to have coffee with.

That's when it clicked: intellectual property can start as your experience, stories, or insights . . . and it can be published into a usable form, then just keep growing and growing in value. Most things wear out with use. Ideas that are organized well and published well . . . compound.

So I kept going. My second book, Epic Blog (2014), earned over $100,000 in profit from book sales alone (over its first few years). My online schools grew past 20,000 learners. One of my email lists grew to 50,000 subscribers. My website hosted 5 million visits in 6 years, due to the power of SEO in my articles and videos.

My business income was supporting me (and at times, others) . . . and has done so for over a dozen years straight.

I'm saying this to highlight one specific thing: This work doesn’t need to be about hiring an enormous team or chasing every trend social media has to offer . . . it can be about one person’s ideas (yours), packaged into formats that last.

This work has led me to one of my favorite days, ever.

In 2021, I designed a digital business course for an HBCU. Students learned how to evaluate business ideas they could start with low to no capital, build out a plan & structure for their businesses, and market them. At the end of the first semester this class was offered, I sat in on their final project presentations, and they were brilliant. They had new skills that they could carry into any business or career going forward.

I was beyond thrilled.

I bring this up because it's a clear demonstration of something I deeply believe: when under-recognized people publish and package what they know in powerful ways, the playing field levels a little . . . and the world benefits a lot. That's the work. It's always been the work.

But, these days, my work comes in two main forms.

Most of my time: I’m working as an IP strategist for change makers and thought leaders. I help these thoughtful people turn their thinking into bodies of work that last -> books, courses, essays, all driven by potent frameworks and philosophies. 

Basically, I want to help you publish work that will still be working for you (and your community) 10 years later, instead of pieces that feed an algorithm that has no loyalty to you and always asks for more. Talk about toxic, stage 5 clingers . . .

But, moving on.

With some of my time: I’m writing speculative fiction and creative nonfiction that explores identity, societal inequity, and the futures we can (and should?) build toward.

Underneath both of these things is the conviction that ideas and stories specific enough to make change deserve to exist in the world.

So . . . what are you building? What’s on your mind these days?

Or really, I should probably ask, what’s on your hard drive? In your phone’s notes app? Buried in your notebooks and Google Docs drafts?

I ask because if you've read this far, you probably have no shortage of ideas and knowledge from your work, your industry, your imagination, or your experience that's living in various hidden places. Ideas you’d love to get out.

Your stories can become anthems for your community. Your frameworks can become the gold standard of thought leadership in your field. You can publish radically useful things for the situations your industry, community, or clients are facing. You can also get paid for those ideas.

You don’t need permission for any of that. You don’t need me.

But, I am here if you want a thought partner, guided exercises, tools, and systems from someone who’s been obsessed with this craft since 2008.

Let’s publish the things this world could use a lot more of, together.

— Regina

P.S. Here are a few resources and pieces I recommend starting with if this if your first time on my site: